We rented Victoria, a Sun Odyssey 37 for 2 weeks, last minute, so we paid a high price. The boat was a 20+ year old boat and while clean and in working order, most of the rigging, sails, electronics etc. seemed to be original, not updated. The ropes were rock hard.. There was a crack across the engine panel, remarked on during initial inspection. Day 5: We sailed to Capraia, when we arrived at our anchorage, in quite strong winds, the anchor would not drop, as the windlass control had corroded due to water ingress. This created quite a dangerous situation, and it was getting dark. We had to beg for a berth at the small harbour, which was fully booked. The local mechanic was called the next day and did a temporary repair (photo), which lasted 2 days then failed again. Day 7: While lifting the anchor (using the little switch, shown in photo) at Macinaggio, in Corsica, we started drifting back onto another boat because the throttle would not engage. The teeth inside the lever were oxidised and corroded (longterm corrosion, shown in photo) and the lever was just rotating freely without putting the engine into gear. We managed (barely) to get the engine into forward, before it failed completely, though now we were stuck in forward. We headed out to sea and I managed to get the lever off the underlying sprocket, I then returned to Macinaggio and using the wrench to control the engine and the little metal switch (photo) to control the anchor, managed to drop anchor again. I went ashore and begged the man who ran the chandlery shop (closed on Sunday) to sell me some electrical tape, which he reluctantly did. I then taped the wrench shut so that I could use it as a new throttle lever. We then sailed to Bastia. En route we tried to anchor for a swim, and discovered that the new control (photo) did not work. We managed to manoeuvre into Vieux Port Bastia, using the wrench, which as you can imagine was very stressful. Day 8: I spent my day in Bastia, to get a mechanic to come fix the boat and finding a chandlery shop to get a new lever. The owner of the chandlery shop advised me to call the French authorities to have the boat condemned as unsafe, however obviously this would have ended our holiday. The company rep was concerned about what the French mechanic from CNB (Chantiers Navals Bastia) would cost and called his boss. Finally we told the company we couldn't go on with no anchor and no throttle lever. The owner then advised us to sail from Bastia to Portoferraio (8h) where the company would send us a mechanic. Day 9: The company rep and the mechanic arrived and fitted a new throttle lever and a new windlass control. At this stage we had run out of time to do much more (we had hoped to see Giglio) and we had cut short the Corsica leg of our trip, so we went around Elba for a couple of days and headed north. Day 13: The crack across the engine panel, which I had remarked on during the initial inspection, widened due to the strain of the engine cut-off lever, such that as we sailed back to Rosignano, the lever pulled through the crack. Rather than apologise for the very serious and potentially life-threatening defects with the boat (consider if any of these problems had occurred during a storm!), the company made a big fuss about the crack across the engine panel (see photo taken day 1 of our trip) which had widened such that the cut-off lever was pulling through. I pointed out that when you do not repair a crack (which predated our holiday), it will naturally widen, especially when under repetitive strain from the cut-off lever. After spending 40 minutes standing in the sun for this inspection, rather than lose my temper, I excused myself and returned to the company office. I was then summoned to the boat to talk to the boss Federico about the cracked control panel. At this stage I told them I was finished with their company and their boat, and left. The company still charged me 250 from my deposit for the repair of the crack despite it being there from the beginning. Avoid.

We chartered a brand new Hanse 460 bareboat from Ocean Freedom in September 2023. Communication was good and initiated by the charter company calling us to give directions for finding the office. The rest of the communication throughout the week was using WhatsApp and with reasonable response times. Although they did not immediately have answers to all of our questions the company was diligent to call appropriate persons and find out. Returning the yacht was hassle free. Small things always happen when you are out at sea for a longer period. We had a minor tear in our jib and some damage to one of the lines. Nevertheless we got our deposit back in full, which we are thankful for. Would recommend the company.